New at Reason

July 13, 2007

In case you forgot to re-up your subscription, all nine Citings from reason's July issue are now online.

Comments

|7.13.07 @ 11:25AM|#

this is worth a H&R post? Since when?

ed|7.13.07 @ 12:01PM|#

It's an infomercial.

|7.13.07 @ 12:12PM|#

And now for something completely off-topic.

Trolls getting you down? Announcing my magnum opus du jure! XTroll is a personal proxy filter for the Reason Hit & Run blog. XTroll prevents the posts of deserving commentators from appearing on your screen. XTroll is publicly available under the terms of the GNU General Public License and runs under the Linux and Windows operating systems.

XTroll is available at: http://www.heurtley.com/richard/xtroll

Here's how it works:

(1) You download (and compile if you wish) XTroll and run it on your computer.

(2) You fire up your favorite web browser and go to http://yourcomputername:4004 (the 4004 port number is configurable).

(3) XTroll accepts your browser's HTTP requests and forwards them to www.reason.com.

(4) XTroll fields the Reason web site's replies and returns them to your web browser.

(5) If a reply contains Hit & Run comments, XTroll examines the poster's name and link if there is one. If the name and/or link are listed in XTroll's configuration file then the post is deleted before the reply is sent to your browser.

(6) XTroll inserts a small (X) link after each commentator's name. Clicking on the X will add the name and link to the configuration file.

That's it!

XTroll is a personal comment filter. It runs entirely on your computer does not depend on the Hit & Run server or any other computer. No one will know whether you're using it or not. (Actually the reason.com webmaster can probably tell.) XTroll does not intercept all of your web traffic, just requests sent to your computer's port 4004.

XTroll is written in C and compiles cleanly with the Open Watcom, Microsoft Visual C++ Express, and gcc compilers. It has been tested with the Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer browsers under Linux and Windows. You are encouraged to compile and link your own copy although pre-compiled versions are available. XTroll is not a paragon of programming correctness. It is accurately described as one huge buffer overflow. Bug fixes and additions are welcome.

Urkobold™|7.13.07 @ 12:13PM|#

THE URKOBOLD MIGHT TELL HIS MINIONS TO BUY SUBSCRIPTIONS TO REASON IF HIS REASONABLE COMMAND THAT THE LOBSTER GIRL BE PROMINENTLY REPOSTED WERE OBEYED. OTHERWISE, THE URKOBOLD SHALL WITHHOLD HIS MIGHTY ENDORSEMENT.

|7.13.07 @ 12:14PM|#

You know, whats amazing is that the blog comments are almost completely un-moderated, yet the site hasn't degenerated into shit.

|7.13.07 @ 12:29PM|#

I for one welcome our LobsterGirl overlords.

|7.13.07 @ 2:43PM|#

Richard,

That sounds pretty cool. But there's competition in this market! :D

I have a little Greasemonkey script called INCIF (the Indisputably Non-Coercive Idiot Filter) that I use and share. It requires Firefox and the Greasemonkey extension, but works on Linux, Windows, and OS X. For now, it also requires manual editing to filter specific people, but it's simple and allows you to assign silly and/or insulting names to display for filtered folks' posts. (It also lets you optionally omit even that so that if, say, two people you filter like to repeatedly get into protracted arguments with each other, you don't even have to page down past a compressed version of their spat.)

I'll have to put up a link to a download. The license is, well, complete license with attribution.

|7.13.07 @ 4:24PM|#

Competition? I was afraid of that. The next thing you know the market for Hit & Run troll solution tools will be the target of Federal regulation.

And worse, since Greasemonkey is a much better solution, you're going to get all the attention from hot Libertarian babes that I was hoping to get.

Sigh.

I look forward to seeing your code.

Urkobold™|7.13.07 @ 5:32PM|#

THE URKOBOLD WOULD LIKE TO COMMISSION A PROGRAM OR SCRIPT THAT WOULD ALLOW HIM TO REPLACE ALL OF HIT & RUN'S IMAGES WITH THE LOBSTER GIRL'S.

IT'S NOT AN OBSESSION, IT'S A HOBBY.

VM|7.13.07 @ 5:45PM|#

hier oh mighty URKOBOLD!!

(it's not a hobby. it's a calling)

Urkobold™|7.13.07 @ 5:49PM|#

WRONG AGAIN, VM! GO TO THE LAKE AND STAY THERE UNTIL THE URKOBOLD HAS WORKED OUT AN APROPOS PUNISHMENT WITH SPINY NORMAN, YOUR SPECIAL NEMESIS.

VM|7.13.07 @ 6:25PM|#

*quietly sobs* why?

Urkobold™|7.13.07 @ 6:27PM|#

YOU KNOW WHY! NEVER AGAIN COME BETWEEN THE URKOBOLD AND HIS LOBSTER GIRL CAMPAIGN!

FREE THE LOBSTER GIRL!

VM|7.13.07 @ 6:39PM|#

*thinking quickly

lobster man?

|7.13.07 @ 8:57PM|#

Competition? I was afraid of that. The next thing you know the market for Hit & Run troll solution tools will be the target of Federal regulation.

We'll host our stuff in Russia, then!

And worse, since Greasemonkey is a much better solution, you're going to get all the attention from hot Libertarian babes that I was hoping to get.

I dunno; sounds like your UI is a bit more polished, and some folks, oddly enough, don't like Firefox. We'll see. :)

But here's the INCIF download and instructions, hosted by another kind regular, Kwix, for the moment.

|7.14.07 @ 3:02PM|#

If I can't have hot Libertarian babes then I'll try for the approval of Urkobold instead.

O Great Urkobold. Accept these gifts as tokens of my esteem:

lgirl.c (source code)

lgirl.exe (Windows executable)

lgirl (Linux executable)

lgirl.conf (configurationfile)

The Lobster Girl image is too large for the Hit & Run layout so I uploaded a small 150x150 version to my web site. The lgirl.conf file refers to the smaller image. The default image is the original on flickr.

LGirl runs exactly like XTroll so see the XTroll documentation for more information.

|7.14.07 @ 3:06PM|#

Eric: INCIF is very cool. It gets my vote as the standard Hit & Run troll management tool.

Urkobold™|7.16.07 @ 9:14AM|#

THE URKOBOLD IS PLEASED! LOBSTER GIRLS EVERYWHERE!

STILL, REASON MUST KNEEL BEFORE THE URKOBOLD AND ZOD IN THIS MATTER.

|7.16.07 @ 11:56AM|#

You're very kind, Richard; thank you.